Advani warns against Prez rule in Orissa

New Delhi, Oct 7: Amid growing demands for central intervention in riot-hit Orissa, senior BJP leader L K Advani on Monday, Oct 6 warned that the UPA Government will have to pay 'a heavy price' if the BJD-led dispensation was dismissed.

BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Advani accused the Congress of adopting double standards and questioned why the Government was not talking about imposing the stringent step in Assam and West Bengal despite large-scale violence there. "The Centre will have to pay a heavy price if it imposes President's rule in Orissa," Advani said, addressing 'Vijay Sankalp' rally organised by the Delhi BJP.

There were reports that Bangladeshi infiltrators had hoisted Pakistani flags in Assam, Advani said, lamenting that the Tarun Gogoi-led state Government as well as the Centre have failed to take any action on it. "In Orissa, Chief Minister Navin Patnaik took prompt action and several of those who indulged in the heinous crime are languishing in jails...The state government has also formed a judicial probe into the incidents," claimed the former Deputy Prime Minister.

Referring to violence in West Bengal's Nandigram and the ongoing clashes between Bodos and Bangladeshis in Assam, he charged the UPA Government of turning blind eye to the incidents in these two states.

"The Government talks of imposing Article 356 in Orissa but not in Assam and West Bengal," Advani said in an apparent attack on the Home Minister. Attacking the Centre on growing incidents of terror strikes, Advani said Government was not interested in tackling terror but more concerned about "protecting its vote bank."